making everything normal
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: He wanted his privacy just like anyone else, and the fact that the Daily Prophet wouldn't stop making such announcements about him and his wife's family was absolutely bothersome.


Teddy unfolded that day's copy of the Daily Prophet with a sigh, wondering if _this _morning, he'd be reading about his own family, instead of something actually important, like the fact that thirteen Muggles had gone missing in the last week.

After all, what could be more life-changing and crucial for the people of the Wizarding World to know than that Edward Lupin and his wife had recently had twins?

He scowled at the sight of the announcement, recalling back to when the birth of his first son had been announced and someone had _actually _shown up at St. Mungo's in order to ask for a picture of the now not-so-happy family.

If someone tried to come over to their house or St. Mungo's _now_, Teddy wasn't sure he'd be able to restrain himself from cursing them, or at least punching them in the face.

He wanted his privacy just like anyone else, and the fact that the Daily Prophet wouldn't stop making such announcements about him and his wife's family was absolutely bothersome.

"Good morning, Teddy," Victoire said just then, walking into the room and carrying their younger son on her hip, leaning down to peck him on the cheek. "How's the world going today?"

"Use your imagination," he grumbled as Victoire set William down in the high chair that a Healer had brought by, handing him a container of pudding to eat. "They're more focused on turning into some crappy gossip rag than they are on reporting _actually important _information. It makes me sick."

"Hmm," Victoire replied, giving William a plastic spoon as well before taking her seat between the two males. "There's just too much hand holding going on at the Daily Prophet at this point. I swear, someone should just burn that bloody newspaper and be done with it. If all they can write about are infants being born, then I think we're just _done_."

"You got that right. You want some tea?" Teddy asked, getting to his feet, glad that, at least the room they had been put in came equipped with a small kitchenette. "If we've got to deal with idiots, we might as well have some tea while we do it."

"Sure," Victoire replied, pulling the copy of that morning's Daily Prophet over to where she was so she could take a look. "I could go for some tea right now, that's for sure."

"Cool. You still have some in your emergency bag, right?" Teddy walked over to the cot he had been sleeping on for the past day and a half, where his and his wife's meagre luggage was stored.

They had been well aware of the upcoming birth of _twin _girls, but it had still come as a bit of a shock to see them so small and delicate.

The head Healer, an old friend of his named Hannah, had explained to Teddy and Victoire that the girls were going to have to stay a few extra days than was normal, due to their weakened condition, and Victoire had decided she wasn't going to leave St. Mungo's until her daughters did.

And Teddy had already taken a week off for paternity leave at the Ministry, so he saw no reason to spend the time at home, away from his newly born children and beautiful wife.

Their eldest child, Remus, who was six and in grade one, was currently staying with Victoire's brother, Louis, and his fiancée, who had been wanting to look after the little boy, claiming it would help "experience them" for the future.

(Louis hadn't looked so excited about the prospect of gaining experience for the future, but he hadn't disagreed when Teddy dropped his eldest son off at their house.)

Teddy quickly began making the tea, sitting on the counter in the kitchenette as he waited for it to come to boil, grinning at Victoire when she gave him a lopsided smile.

"Listen to this, Teddy," she said, scooping some pudding up from the high chair as she continued to read the newspaper, "_On August 7__th__, Edward Lupin and wife Victoire Lupin nee Weasley, were happy to announce the birth of their newest children, twin girls. The eldest, born at 10.14 a.m. is named Nymphadora Fleur Lupin, and the younger, born at 10.57 a.m., is named Apolline Molly Lupin. They have two older brothers, Remus Arthur Lupin, born on March 30, 2024, and William John Lupin, born July 14, 2027. The parents were not available for comment, but are reported to be resting."_

"Not available for comment?" Teddy laughed, a snorting sound, "More like _never _going to happen. Merlin, those reporters are a bunch of leeches. I can't see how Ginny could ever stand to be _anywhere _near them, seeing as how they're all a bunch of puffed up morons who are only out for a weak story in an effort to ruin someone else's life."

"Mhmm," Victoire said as the tea kettle began to whistle. "Idiots, the lot of them. Maybe Aunt Ginny just wore earmuffs the whole time to block out the sound of stupid."

Teddy jumped back off the kitchenette, pouring the tea into two cups, serving one to his beautiful wife and setting one aside for himself before weakening the tea that was left with some cold milk, pouring the mixture into a plastic infant's cup for William.

"That's probably it, yeah. I can't imagine it, though, having to work in the same building as people who think that stalking little kids is quality news. You remember that? The way they'd follow James and Albus home from the Muggle school until Grandma Molly threatened to hex the reporters? Man, talk about digging for some dirt."

"Yeah, I remember that. Grandma Molly was still really pissed the next time we all had dinner together; she was ranting and raving about how those stupid people from the Prophet wouldn't stop following her precious grandbabies around and how, from now on, she was only going to read the Quibbler and that other one…the Cauldron Report." Victoire smiled. "It would have almost been funny, except that the Prophet reporters were stalking a seven and a not quite six year old."

They sat there for a few minutes more, sipping tea, the copy of the prophet sitting between them on the table. Finally, Teddy set his cup down and got to his feet once more, grabbing the paper with a disdainful look.

"Where are you going?" Victoire asked, watching as he walked over to the trash can, dropped the paper in, and muttered "_Incendio_," so that the paper caught on fire. "Teddy! What the hell did you do that for? We could get in trouble for this, you know!"

"I'm just burning the trash, Victoire, that's all." Teddy grinned at her, letting the flames flicker out, leaving just the newspaper, blackened and ashy, crumbling into nothing on the bottom of the trashcan floor. "Everything's fine. I'm just getting rid of this newspaper of crap."

There was a sudden sobbing noise from one of the cribs and Victoire got to her feet, walking over to one of the little girls, picking her up and whispering consoling words as she made her way over to the changing table.

"I'm just making sure our kids grow up more normal than we did," Teddy whispered to himself, looking down at the burnt newspaper in the trashcan with a small smile. "I'm just making sure everything is as normal as it really should be."


End file.
